Power Rangers Demon Defense Force
by Turtlewarrioroflegend
Summary: A group of teenagers are chosen by the goddess of Earth to protect the Earth from the evil Kronos and an army of demons. Will they succeed or will the Earth fall under the darkness of demonic control. Entirely OC team, R&R.
1. Start of Something New

A special thanks for Red Ranger 2.3 for submitting my yellow ranger and his sister to this story. I hope I do them justice.

 _The smell of brimstone and sulfur permeated the air as the fires raged on all around Aaliyah. A dry wind stirred and blew some of her long dark hair in front of her eyes that she struggled to force away. The streets themselves seemed deserted even though screams of agony and/or pain could be heard all around her. She swore she even saw her father's police cruiser in the distance though she could get no closer to it._

 _She opened her mouth to call out for her father, for anyone really but felt overwhelmed at the smell of brimstone and sulfur and only ended up coughing. She heard noises above her and looked up to see several shadowy things skimming the rooftops. Either by luck or design they did not see her._

 _Then a monster appeared in front of her. It was lanky and white. The shoulder down was replaced with sharp and wicked looking blades. It slashed at Aaliyah's face though she raised her arms to block it. She felt the hot sting of the blades as they slashed her flesh. Then it rammed into her hard and the blades began to descend toward her small but lithe body…_

Sixteen year old Aaliyah awoke with a start, accidently knocking her bottle of water off the nightstand beside her bed. Her hands flew to her chest and stomach, relieved to find herself intact. She then raised her arms and found themselves also equally unblemished. She quickly rose, her shirt furling around her legs and opened up the window in her second story house to take a breath of fresh air.

Fresh air was almost relative considering they lived in Ferryton, California. It was three hours away from Los Angeles and almost two hours away from Angel Grove. But compared to the sulfur and brimstone that still seemed to be around it was a like a miracle.

"What was that?" Aaliyah asked herself softly. "I can't imagine that starting my first day of high school would be behind a nightmare like that." Her father had recently gotten transferred to a new district which meant she had to leave her old friends behind and transfer to an entirely new high school. She left her window open slightly as she returned to her bed.

She felt as if she wouldn't fall asleep after that but drifted off in a matter of moments. She quickly found herself back in the dream again…

 _This time the street was quite, the full moon shining down. The air smelled fresh and clean, a stark contrast to her dream of earlier. She took a few steps into the park and found others around her though she couldn't make out many details. Three of the closest ones seemed to be girls and one of them seemed to be a guy. They all looked to be her age._

 _Then a blue white ball of light appeared in the center of them all, twinkling ethereally. Aaliyah was not religious by any stretch of the imagination but she would have bet that light would shine for angels. The light then revealed the upper body of a woman who looked to be only a little older than them but Aaliyah could feel she was not as young as she seemed, she had curly blonde hair Then they heard a beautiful female voice speak; "I am Thera, goddess of Earth. Prepare yourself, your journey awaits."_

 _She glanced around. If she were any judge of body postures two of the girls and the guy seemed to be as shocked as she felt. The other…seemed resigned but not too shocked to see this. Thera continued on, "Only you can stop the legion of demons that will soon begin their invasion of the Earth."_

 _Aaliyah looked down as she felt a tingling in her hand. She swore she saw the brief outline of a golden glove on her right hand but then nothing. With that Aaliyah looked up…_

"Wow, that can't be." Aaliyah said softly as she noticed the time. It was almost seven in the morning; she had an hour to get to school. She slipped out of bed, grabbed a red tank top and blue jeans and headed toward the shower.

"Bye mom, bye girls." Sophie McNeil called out to her mother and little sisters. She was the first one to get dropped off to her new school before her little sister Deanna would go to the middle school for her first day of sixth grade and her youngest sister Melanie would go to her first day of first grade.

She actually envied her youngest sister a little, at six years old she hadn't had been uprooted as much when they moved here from Crystal Peaks in Ohio like her twelve year old and sixteen year old sisters had been. Still, what's done was done and she now had to worry about making new friends at their new school. She shook her head, her medium length chestnut hair brushing against her cheeks. If only she could shake off the weird and disturbing dream; seeing her mother filleted alive was horrible, and what she saw happen to her sisters…it made her shudder.

Despite being the new girl she tried to give a cheery hello to everybody that she met. She passed an extremely gorgeous girl; green eyed with long blonde hair and the figure of a model with a cheery hello but only got a weird look in return. She felt a bit of annoyance at that; she knew people had their own issues in life but when a girl looked like that she Sophie figured that she could afford to spread a little bit of cheer.

In truth however the blonde in question, sixteen year old Raine Shields, had not heard the greeting because she was too busy running the final calculations she thought she would need in order to finish designing her new anti-virus software that she thought would be better than anything on the market. Not that she was always keen on social situations anyway. She had been home schooled during her elementary years and privately taught during her middle school years. High school would be her first time in a normal school, and even then she had all AP classes.

Intelligence and logic were very important to her, something she had picked up early in life from her mother, who was an engineer for the United Earthen Corporation. She wasn't sure who her father was as her mother hadn't spoke of him in a long time. She had given up on that illogical course. That was also why she did her best to ignore her own nightmare; the halls of her mother's work place had gone from antiseptically clean to a bloodbath and she had seen her own mother as she had transformed into…she wished she had known but it was a horrible amalgam of flesh and metal.

Aaliyah had chosen to walk to school that day though as her first nightmare plagued her it became a very brisk run instead. So distracted was she over the disturbing dream that she had that she wasn't paying attention and collided shoulder to shoulder with another girl. "I'm sorry." Aaliyah said as she knelt down to help the beautiful long haired blonde pick up her books. "My thoughts were elsewhere. Are you alright?"

Antonella Lee looked up at the girl shyly. "I-It's no big deal." She said quietly. "I-I was kind of not r-really paying attention either." She also reached down to recover her books.

Aaliyah handed her the books she recovered. "My name is Aaliyah Munroe. I'm just starting her from Justine Middle School." She introduced herself.

"Oh, how neat." Antonella said softly. "I-I'm just coming in from Madison." She took her books back.

And speaking of those coming from Madison Middle School, sixteen year old twins Even and Alice Myers were just being dropped off by their mother for their first day in school. After waving goodbye Even turned to his sister and said, "It'll be kind of nice to be in a school without mom being so near all the time."

Alice laughed softly, causing her push the frame of her glasses back up against her nose. "It almost feels like it will be a new experience." She agreed as she adjusted the twist in her jet black hair.

"Hey, I think you should get some kind of color streak in your hair, like mine." Even teased as he brushed his left hand through his own short black jet hair with intermittent yellow highlights throughout.

Alice laughed softly. "Yeah, I think I'll pass." She said to him. She looked down at her own watch. "I have to get some books for my AP classes; I'll see you at lunch Even. Have a good day." She started off and waved at him.

"You too Alice." Even called and then headed toward his own classroom. "As long as that creepy nightmare gets out of my head." He added to himself quietly. He hated the smells and sights of the dream, and seeing his parents killed was horrible enough, but what he saw Alice going through made the bully that he had beat up in eight grade for picking on her seem like nothing. He had to shake off the feeling of sickness and dread. The schedule had him starting out in English class. He unknowingly passed Sophie on her way to that same class.

Alice's first class was in AP Chemistry. In the aisle next to her Raine sat as well. She noticed the blonde already reading the first chapter. _That's not a bad idea actually._ She thought to herself and started to do the same thing.

Aaliyah had stopped by the main office to pick up her schedule, thrown together last minute because of her last minute transfer. Her first class ended up being Ceramics and was actually pleasantly surprised to see Antonella sitting at a table. She smiled a little and went to over to sit to the lovely blonde.

About thirty miles outside of town sat a theater that had been nearly deserted for years. It was known as the Twin Peaks. Because of its location it had fallen on hard times. Several buyers would come along who wanted to 'run the place right' even if it meant breaking even but eventually reality set in; there was no way to run the place without losing profit.

Being so far from town made it almost impossible for any prime real estate to move in and renovate it otherwise. It turned out to be a perfect location for another source though. A large red portal opened up and a large four armed skeleton like creature stepped forward, bloody moth like wings unfurling from its back. On either side of his head were two horns. He took a deep breath and laughed. "At last, we have made it to Earth." He turned to the portal. "Come forth." He demanded.

Wiry creatures with almost no skin but exposed muscle stepped through with a yellow, organic substance. Immediately they started to spread it around the room. In time it would be extended to the entire exterior of the theatre.

"We must acquire more power if we are all to be released Kronos." Said a deep booming voice from within the red portal. "If we are to claim the Earth as ours."

"And it shall be done master." Kronos promised. "I shall send the Slicers out to bring us some new sacrifices. We will bring them back and they will eventually join the ranks of the Unwilling." He then raised his hands and shot out the nails on the ends of his four hands twice.

As the nails landed they grew and expanded into man sized white creatures. Their flesh seemed almost rubber except for the shining blades that went from where a normal being would have hands to their elbows. "Go; bring sacrifices so that we may make the Earth ours." Kronos commanded.

Raine tuned out their teacher Mr. Kite primarily because she knew today would be all about expectations for the class. She already knew that those expectations were easy for her to meet.

Alice paid attention but only because it was the polite thing to do. In truth she wasn't anticipating any problems with this class either.

Meanwhile in ceramics Antonella listened to their teacher Mrs. Rayes as she talked. Aaliyah looked like she was as well but her mind was again drifting to her nightmare.

In English class both Sophie and Even were doing their best to pay attention as well.

So the people in each classroom were surprised beyond all measure when the windows shattered and the bladed rubbery fleshed monsters crashed right it. People were already screaming and heading toward the doors.

"What are those things?" Even wondered as he stood up, bumping into Sophie's shoulder.

"Ugly and dangerous looking." Sophie answered as she glanced up at him. "We have to give the other students time to escape." As if reading each other's minds they each picked up a chair and tossed it toward the creatures. They let out growls and turned toward them.

"Time to go." Even said as he grabbed Sophie's hand and led her to the backdoor of the classroom.

"This way!" A girl named Lilly yelled as she pushed the table she and another student had been sitting at before the creatures came in. It made them stumble backwards just a little. She then reached over and grabbed Antonella's hand, startling her a little bit as she dragged the curvy blonde away. Aaliyah followed her.

Raine moved toward the back of the chemistry room with Alice and several other students behind her. She grabbed a bottle of acid and threw it at the closest creature. The flesh didn't seem to care but the metal blade was eaten off of the body.

"That worked." Alice noted with some enthusiasm. That dwindled though when the creature completely ignored the loss of its bladed arm. "But not so well." She added.

"We have to get out of here." Another classmate said.

Inevitably the students and faculty moved toward the gymnasium, the biggest place inside the school. It could easily hold the student body and hundreds of visitors for games, pep rallies and community events. It was there they were all barricaded inside. They heard pounding at the doors, indicating that they had been followed.

Although only about a third of the student population knew each other, those that were familiar with others sought each other out. One of those was Alice, who rushed over to her brother and threw her arms around him. "I was so scared for you." She said to him. Raine very reluctantly followed her.

Even hugged her back. "I know." He said. "I was scared for you too." He had Sophie with him too as she had nowhere to go. She pulled out her iPhone to try to find out if her younger sister's schools were under attack.

Lilly happened to stop in the center where the four of them were, and so did Antonella and Aaliyah. "What are we supposed to do now?" They heard another student asked.

"They're calling the cops." Another student answered. "They'll kill those creatures and rescue us."

Aaliyah felt tension shoot through her body. Calling the police would bring her father down there. And she had this horrible feeling that if the police became involved it would be a bloodbath, and not for the right side of the law. But she didn't know what she could do about it either.

"Students to the back of the gym." The principal ordered. Most of them reluctantly did so.

The pounding seemed to abate but in reality it was simply they could no longer hear it.

"I wish my mom and dad were here." Antonella said softly to herself.

Aaliyah reached over and took her hand softly. It startled the blonde for a moment but she didn't pull away. She was too scared to do so and honestly it felt kind of nice to have the comfort.

It was a complete shock when the fire exit doors crashed inward and several of the creatures burst in. Alice let out a small gasp of fright even as Even moved his twin sister behind him. The first one moved in even as Aaliyah released Antonella's hand and moved in to try to find a way to stop the monster from hurting anyone.

The monster leapt at Aaliyah and Antonella let out a scream, even as Sophie looked around as if she could find something to help. Even felt torn between helping her or protecting his sister.

Then it seemed as if time stopped. The monsters stopped moving; almost all the screams of the students and yelling of the faculty had stopped. Aaliyah backed away from the frozen monster and then jumped as she bumped into something, only to discover it was Antonella she had bumped into.

"What just happened?" Sophie asked as she looked to the two girls.

"Alice?" Even asked as he waved his hands in front of her eyes and got no response whatsoever.

"This is highly illogical." Raine stated simply as she looked at Even and the three other girls. "How did everything stop except us?"

Then a blue white light that Aaliyah recognized from her dreams shimmered into existence. In it was revealed the ethereal female that had spoken to them; Thera the goddess of Earth. "It is time my champions." She said and Aaliyah's eyes widened in shock as she looked at Even and the three girls. "You must become the Power Rangers Demon Defense Force."

"The what?" Sophie questioned. "You've got to be kidding me."

"This can't be real." Raine agreed.

Aaliyah took a deep breath. "But it is." She concluded and looked to Even and the three girls. "Logical or not you all know this is real and that it's no joke. We all had the similar dreams of what these things," She pointed to one of the bladed monsters...demons if they were going to be honest about this. "Will do to our world. We were all there when Thera approached us and told us that we had this journey awaiting us."

"To our families." Sophie echoed quietly as she thought about her nightmare, what had happened to her sisters. A glance at Even showed a similar thought going through his mind as well.

Aaliyah was shocked when Antonella was the first to say. "You're right Aaliyah. I'm ready."

"Me too." Even said with a glance at his still frozen sister. "Tell me what to do."

Raine and Sophie still hesitated a moment. Then Sophie took a deep breath. "I…I don't know how to fight, I hate confrontations…but I have to protect my family. What do I need to do?"

That left the taller blonde alone for a moment before she rolled her eyes. "I still have my doubts about all of this." She warned them all bluntly. "But making sure that we all continue to live does fall pretty high on my priority list, so I'll take a chance here."

On their left hands each of them had a golden gauntlet appear. It seemed to be made of scales rather than metal as most gauntlets had been. In their right hands appeared small cards; Aaliyah's was red and had the symbol of fire. Raine's was blue and had a drop of water. Sophie's was green and had an emblem of a leaf. Even's was yellow and had a lightning bolt symbol similar to what was on the back of his shoes, and Antonella's was pink with the moon symbol on it.

"These are your gauntlets which are made from the scales of the powerful golden dragon Vermatrix Goldenhide." Thera informed them all. "Combine your power cards with the slot on the top of the gauntlets to morph."

Aaliyah raised gauntlet and her fire card and almost placed the card in the slot before looking at the others, her apparent teammates. Antonella had already followed suit.

Even still seemed hesitant until he looked again at Alice and how terrified she looked and then he followed suit.

Sophie hesitated as well but she closed her eyes and thought of her sister's before also following suit.

That left Raine who gave off a slightly annoyed sigh and then followed suit.

Together they slid their power cards into their gauntlets. They felt the power surging in the gauntlets before it traveled through their bodies. The golden gauntlets smoothed out as they transformed. Each wore suits of that matched the color of their cards though strangely the only one of the girls to have a skirt was Antonella. On each of their chests sat the symbol that was on their cards. Their helmets had black Plexiglas visors on the front that seemed like a fully exploded firework, or even the image of translucent image of Thera. On their hips they each held swords in a sheath.

"Wow." Antonella said softly. "So this is how it feels."

"So cool." Even commented.

"This is fascinating." Raine granted. "How does all of this work?"

"It's time guys." Aaliyah said to them. "Let's show these bladed freaks what we're made of."

"I hope you guys know how to fight." Sophie remarked. "Because I don't."

"You will learn." Thera promised them all. "As the next generation of Power Rangers the knowledge of what you will need to defend the Earth will be there as you need it. Now it's time to send these Slicers back where they belong."

"Slicers huh?" Even asked. "Well at least they're appropriately named."

"Let's do it." Aaliyah said. She drew her sword and time started up again. The creature, the Slicer as they had been told it was called, unfroze and it dove right toward her. Aaliyah blocked it with her sword. She was surprised the sword was constructed well enough to hold up to the strength behind the demon.

She parried the demon away and then followed up with a slashing strike that took the Slicer down.

The screaming died down as everyone realized that five color coded strangers were now in the room. Even more shocking was the red one had taken down one of the monsters, they had noticed too and seemed to hesitate just a moment as if reevaluating the situation.

"I wonder what Even thinks of this." Alice wondered and then looked around. "Even?" She asked in shock and worry.

"We've already started to get people out of the area." Sophie quickly said to Alice as to cover up that he was actually the yellow ranger who had drawn his own sword as he got ready to see what the Slicer's did next. "Your brother was one of them. We could use your help in getting some of the others out."

"You got it." Alice said. She was smart enough to know what was going on. Though everything behind it was a big mystery she knew what a group of Power Rangers was when she saw them. Swallowing down her natural shyness in the face of this attack she called out. "Everyone follow me. This way."

One of the Slicers moved to block their way only for Antonella to cartwheel over to it and kick it in the chest hard. She then brought her own sword around and slashed the Slicer down.

Aaliyah looked to Sophie and Antonella. "Protect the evacuees." She ordered and the two girls nodded. She looked to Even and Raine. "Let's take the fight to these Slicers." Even nodded his agreement and although Raine clearly hesitated when the two of them started forward the blue ranger was right behind them.

The Slicer's ignored the fleeing civilians now as they turned to the three approaching rangers. One slashed at Even and he rolled under it, bringing his foot up into the back of the demon minions' knee and as it fell onto its back he brought the sword down on the demon, causing it to dissolve in a flourish. "Hey no mess, no fuss." Even called out but wrinkled his nose a bit. "But it leaves a bit of a smell."

"I noticed." Aaliyah said to him. "I think it's sulfur." She back flipped out of the way of two incoming blades and then brought her elbow into its face hard. It stumbled backwards and she slashed the Slicer in the chest hard, making it dissolve as well.

"I suppose it makes sense considering they are demons. Logically they came from the underworld." Raine said as she blocked the attack of a Slicer. She found it hard to get in a good counterattack though. "Assuming we choose to believe everything."

"You're denying your own senses?" Even asked a little skeptically as he shoulder rammed the Slicer attacking Raine. Together the two of them double teamed the demon minion with attacks of their own and it dissipated.

"These may not be demons." Raine tried to reason as another Slicer approached. "They could be aliens or a forgotten race of life."

"You can accept aliens but not demons?" Sophie asked a bit incredulously as she and Antonella started over to help them. Even could see that Alice was getting the last of the civilians, including herself, out of anger.

"We can debate on what these are later." Aaliyah said as she joined her four teammates. "Right now we need to get rid of these things before they get tired of playing."

One of the Slicers bent at the knee and then launched itself forward in a burst, striking the five rangers and knocking them down. The Slicer itself stopped rolling and landed effortlessly.

"I think we're going to need a bit more than just swords to get the job done." Sophie noted worriedly.

"Think about what Thera gave us to morph, think about the symbols on our chests." Raine suggested to the group as she placed her own hand on the water drop symbol on her chest. "I can't imagine that these are simply here for decoration. I submit that we have the power of our appointed elements at our command."

"I bet she's right." Antonella agreed. "We just have to figure out how to channel that, and quickly."

Several of the Slicers had moved around now and like the first one bent at the knee to launch themselves at the rangers. They all raised their swords and got ready to fight. They launched themselves and Aaliyah got ready to strike though she wasn't sure how she would hit the thing. Her sword swipe was way too early.

But to all of their surprise a wall of fire surged up to protect the five rangers and the leaping Slicers dissipated as soon as they hit the fire wall. It faded away afterwards.

"How did you do that?" Sophie asked Aaliyah.

Aaliyah looked at her team. "I don't know." She confessed. "I just thought about needing some extra firepower and there it was." She motioned to the firewall that had protected them.

"Let's see about this." Even said and raised his sword. He pictured bringing a lightning bolt straight down on their adversaries and they were all surprised as lightning emanated from the sword and struck a couple of them down with a sizzle and dissipation. "Wow you were right." He said to Aaliyah.

Antonella was next as she placed the other side of her sword against the palm of her free hand and imagined…she wasn't sure what to imagine but the next thing she knew a beam of pink energy formed in front of her sword which she sent out and the energy ball slammed into a few of the Slicers.

"That's what I would call a moon blast." Sophie noted. She took a deep breath and closed envisioned a flurry of leaves before making a slashing motion with her sword. No one was more surprised than Sophie was when a magical leaf storm appeared and struck down some approaching Slicers.

"I think it's time to end this." Aaliyah said. She looked to Raine. "You're the only one who hasn't tried your power out."

Raine was warring between this somehow being some elaborate prank and this being reality. The latter was quickly becoming the winner however. "I wish I knew what to try." Raine confessed, throwing her left arm absently. A water star flew from her palm and struck a Slicer in the chest, it too dissipated.

"You sure about that?" Even asked her. "Because that was kind of cool."

"Channel it." Raine said. "Focus your element into the blade of your sword." Even as she spoke she imagine channeling the water into her sword as if she were directing the spray of the hose into a bucket or some other object.

Aaliyah nodded in agreement and thought of that as well. It was harder since normally fire wasn't not easily controlled. But in this case it worked just fine. She looked to see that Even had an electrical blade now, Antonella's simply glowed but she assumed it had lunar energy in it, and Sophie's glowed green and even seemed to shift into a blade of grass. "Let's finish this."

The Slicer's jumped at the five champions but they were ready. Raine even laughed a bit as she was approached by the Slicer that had lost a bladed arm thanks to the acid she had thrown at it. "Guess you remember me after all, huh?" She asked rhetorically. It slashed at her with the one blade it still had and Raine ducked under it, using her water sword to take off its other blade arm. She then picked up the blade and jabbed in in the chest, making it dissipate.

"That was just cold." Even remarked even as he laughed in amusement at what the seemingly stolid blue ranger had done. He took out another Slicer with his own lightning blade. "And kind of awesome."

"We'll need moves like that if we want to come out of this the winners." Aaliyah agreed as she used her fire sword to cut through the Slicer's seemingly like butter. She figured it was the power of fire more than anything else that was letting her do this.

It seemed like forever to Sophie but only another couple of minutes before they had defeated the Slicers. The gym was clear save for the five of them and the slight but seemingly overwhelming smell of sulfur. Each of them were trying to catch their breaths.

"Oh my gosh." Antonella said as she sank to her knees. "I never thought it could be so difficult." She pressed a button on her gauntlet to power down. Even and the other girls followed suit.

"I guess this is what I get for finally going to a public school." Raine noted with a smirk. Sophie and Even laughed a bit at the joke too. The green and yellow rangers were sitting with their backs against each other as they were catching their breaths.

Aaliyah plopped next to the pink ranger. "We just won a huge battle together, the first in what seems like a huge war and most us don't even know each other's names." Aaliyah noted with some amusement. "I'm Aaliyah Munroe and apparently I'll be your leader."

"My name is Raine Shields." The long haired tall blonde introduced herself. She didn't sit down like the rest of the team had though she almost felt like it.

"I'm Sophie McNeil." Sophie said as she gave a small wave with her right hand and moved some hair out of her eyes and behind her ear with her left hand.

"Even Myers." The only boy of the group said. It occurred to him that there were lot of teenage boys who would love to be in this position; the only guy in a group full of pretty teenage girls. "And you met my sister Alice."

Raine nodded. "We're actually in the same AP chemistry class together." She informed him. She didn't say it out loud but she thought that his sister might be very capable of keeping up with her. It was not something she traditionally thought of other students, even in her AP classes.

"I'm Antonella Lee." The girl in the pink shirt revealed softly. She seemed much more unsure of herself now that they weren't morphed.

Suddenly Even bolted upright and Sophie had to place her hands on the floor to avoid falling onto the ground. He gave her an apologetic look but explained, "We have to get outside before Alice or anyone else thinks something happened to us." He had the good sense to offer his hand to help Sophie up.

"He's right." Aaliyah agreed as she stood up and offered her hand to help up Antonella. "But I think we better meet after school and…well, get to know each other a little better if we're going to work together."

No one disagreed although Raine kind of had some doubts about it. Together they left the building.

Kronos's eyes went from red to his original black eyes. His anger grew into a boiling rage as he watched through the Slicer's eyes as four little girls and a boy went from cowering with the rest of the human populace of the school building to somehow acquiring gauntlets and cards that allowed them to transform into Power Rangers.

He had no personal experience with Power Rangers until now but his master had had plenty of experience in the past with a couple groups of rangers. "I will not allow these rangers to stand in our way." Kronos promised. "I will bring these children to their knees and take this world for Hell."

"We must discover who empowered these brats and who they are." The deep voice announced. "In the meantime I will send someone to lure out these rangers."

"I'll find out who they are." Kronos promised.

"There you are." Alice said as she saw Even come around a corner. "I was starting to worry."

"Sorry about that." Even said to her. "I got turned around. Man, did you see our rescuers?" He asked to change the subject. "They were so cool, especially the yellow one." He had to throw in that last joke and he saw Sophie shake her head and laugh a little even as Raine rolled her eyes.

"Yeah I saw them." Alice said. "The green ranger told me you were out here. Still, one minute we were all alone and surrounded and the next moment they're there. It's so weird." She had found it weird that Even wasn't there. And come to think of it neither was the girl he had been in class with nor Raine had been there. But she just didn't think it'd be possible for her brother to be a ranger and not tell her.

"One of life's little mysteries." Aaliyah now said to Alice and then her gaze encompassed her four team members. "And I'm afraid we're only going to find more of them as this year progresses." She shook her head. "Welcome to high school ladies and gentleman."


	2. Island of Sanctuary

The first day of school ended. The five new team mates walked out of the building together along with Evan's twin sister Alice. "I'll meet you at home." He said to her. "We have to go and get a new project started."

Alice couldn't help but stare at her brother a little dubiously but really she had no concrete reason to believe otherwise. "Alright, I'll let mom and dad know you'll be home later on." She said and looked at the girls. "I'll see you all tomorrow I guess," She said and then waved. "Bye Raine."

"Later." Raine said. It seemed weird to her but they discovered they shared almost all of their classes together and though it sounded kind of cold Alice was the only one in her classes that she thought was really at her level.

In fact the only reason the long haired blonde was hanging around with Evan and the other three girls was because they had discovered they had something else in common in a way. They had been chosen by Thera the goddess of Earth to become Power Rangers and stop a bunch of demons from invading the Earth. She looked to them all. "So what are we supposed to do anyway?" She asked.

It had been Aaliyah's idea that they should all hang out and get to know each other since they were going to be working together for who knew how long but the new red ranger wasn't quite sure what to do now. "Uh, I don't know exactly." She confessed.

They all glanced up suddenly as they heard what sounded like wind chimes, which was odd since that isn't something you would find at the normal school. And they could find no evidence of what made that sound now. "Where did that come from?" Sophie asked.

"I don't know." Evan said. "But I think I heard it going in that direction." He pointed east. "I think there's a forest over there if I remember right."

"You're correct." Raine told him. "It was declared a wildlife preserve about fifteen years ago. Occasionally people will visit the forest as well."

"Do you think we're being told we should go there?" Antonella asked softly. She looked to Aaliyah. Evan and the two girls glanced at her as well.

Aaliyah thought a moment. She wished she knew rather it was a good idea or not. She wondered if it could be a trap as well. Then she nodded. "I guess we should check it out but let's be careful. This could be a trap." She said.

The five teens left the school and made their way to the forest as quickly as possible. It seemed to darken as they entered, which was not entirely unexpected considering the fact that it was midafternoon and the foliage on the trees blocked out a lot of the sky.

"This isn't exactly how I envision spending my afternoons." Raine commented simply as they walked along, she stepped over a large fallen branch that she was sure had fallen from the tree above them rather recently.

I'd think you'd love something like this." Sophie noted. "I mean you are a scientist and all aren't you?"

Raine looked at her somewhat weirdly. "There are many different aspects of science. Chemistry isn't one of those, as you might call it 'outdoorsy' sciences." She explained simply.

"I stand corrected." Sophie said with a slight roll of her eyes which Raine did not see. "Anyway I still don't see what the problem is. I think of worse things to do than spend an afternoon in the forest." She added right before she almost tripped over a half hidden tangle in some growth.

Evan reached out and grabbed a hold of her right arm and placed his hand on the middle of her back to steady her. "Like spending the afternoon in the hospital?" He questioned.

"Well, yeah." Sophie conceded as she averted her face to hide the small blush on her cheeks. "That's a good example of how not to spend your afternoon." He released her arm and she added, "Thanks."

"I've always enjoyed physical activity." Aaliyah said as she easily ducked under a low hanging branch. "At my old school I had a sport for all semesters. In the spring I ran track, fall was basketball and winter was hockey. During the summer I would teach swimming classes."

"I…I'm actually a pretty good swimmer." Raine confessed almost akawardly. "When I was young my mother did a lot of conferences in Hawaii. Her company had to hire a chaperone for me and often enough it was poolside or at the beach."

"Where was your dad?" Antonella asked her.

Raine shook her head. "If I knew I would probably tell you." She replied. "But I don't know. I don't know, he hasn't been in my life for as long as I can remember. It's almost always been my mother and I."

"I can relate." Aaliyah assured her. "My mother died when I was really young. She was killed in a shoot out." She hated to think about that since her father had been part of that as well but he had been off duty, simply the wrong place at the wrong time as they said. It didn't make a husband or six year old girl's loss any easier. "For such a long time it's been my dad and I. Sometimes I find I can barely remember my mother."

Antonella reached out and took her hand, squeezing it softly. It surprised Aaliyah just a bit since from what little she knew of their new pink ranger showing her thoughts or feelings to anyone was a rare sight. She still found herself squeezing back gratefully.

"Makes me kind of grateful for the full family I have." Sophie admitted gently. "Even if sometimes having a six year old around can make life difficult."

"Well when I was six, so was Alice." Evan remarked. "My parents used to remark that we could find all sorts of trouble to get into when we wanted to because we always had each other's bad ideas to feed on."

"Like Raine and Aaliyah I'm an only child too." Antonella said. "Both my parents are alive though, but they…travel a lot. They're kind of like missionaries in a sense. I live with my Aunt Courtney. She's not married and doesn't have kids. Unless you count me since I've lived with her the last five years or so, since I was in middle school."

"You must not see your parents often." Sophie guessed.

"I see them a few times a month." Antonella answered. To Raine the answer seemed a bit vague.

"I can't imagine that though." Sophie said. "Not seeing my parents everyday."

"Neither can I." Evan agreed.

Raine privately agreed as well, at least as far as her mother went since she couldn't even remember her father though she didn't take it the way Aaliyah did where her mother was concerned. She kept that to herself.

"Sometimes my dad will get stuck with overnight shifts." Aaliyah commented. "When that happens it's like we never see each other since when he's awake I'm asleep and he's at work. When I'm awake I'm at school and he's asleep. It's at times like that that I miss seeing him."

"Being power rangers is going to make that seem a little more real for all of us I would imagine." Raine reminded them all seriously. "Not just to our parents," She remembered what Antonella said. "Or our legal guardians but even to our siblings and non-ranger friends."

"You have a good point there." Sophie agreed. "But we all saw the alternative that awaits if we don't do this or if we fail." She couldn't stop the shudder that went through her body. "What I saw happen to my little sisters…"

"I think I get it." Evan promised her.

"Then we won't fail." Aaliyah stated simply. She just hoped they could keep that decision intact.

From the trees came the same Slicers that had attacked the school, landing in front of the five teens and surrounding them. Aaliyah and Antonella had kept their hands intertwined until that moment, when they separated and stood back to back with the other two girls and Evan. "We're surrounded." Sophie stated.

"Then we have to fight our way out." Aaliyah said to them. "It's morphin' time." The five teen formed their golden gauntlet around their left hands while their energy cards appeared in their right hands. They slipped their card into the slot on their gauntlet and transformed.

"Time to wipe the floor with them again." Evan the yellow ranger declared.

"Is that what we did with them?" Raine the blue ranger questioned. "I figured it was more we managed to send them running by the skin of our teeth."

"I'd say it was more somewhere in the middle of the two." Sophie the green ranger voiced.

One of the Slicer's attacked Antonella and by instinct she let out a small gasp of fear before remembering she was the pink ranger and kicked the demon minion in the chest as hard as she could.

Aaliyah the red ranger drew her sword and focused to channel the power of fire into her weapon. "Let's show them what we can do guys." She told them and then charged two of the Slicers with her sword blazing. She cut through the first one effortlessly.

Her four team mates drew their sword and channeled their respective elements into their swords before charging the Slicer's as well. Evan wanted to point out how easy this was turning out to be as he cut through Slicer's with his lightning blade, he could see Raine cutting through them with her tidal blade and Sophie cutting through them with her leaf blade. He couldn't see Antonella.

Sophie and Aaliyah could however and she was doing just as well with her lunar blade.

It seemed like the fight was quickly swinging to the ranger's favor when a cove of branches shattered and the five of them looked at the source of the noise to see a broad shouldered, three skeleton headed creature standing there. One pair of eyes was red, a second blue and the last yellow.

"Oh my gosh." Sophie whispered.

"How do we fight that?" Raine wondered.

"Carefully." Aaliyah answered. Together with Evan the two rangers charged toward the three headed skeleton monster, both of them slashing their blades at it. In its two hands large sword made of bone formed in its hands and blocked the attacks, it also seemed to absorb the elemental portion of their attacks. Then it knocked the swords aside and slashed the red and yellow rangers back hard.

"This is just a guess, but look at its eyes." Raine instructed. Sophie and Antonella noted the colors. "Try to attack that thing together just as Aaliyah and Evan did. I would submit that it can't block your elements the way it did theirs."

"I sure hope you're not wrong about that." Sophie commented. She and Antonella started toward the monster, the two girls moving to flank the monster before trying to attack. The problem with a three headed creature is that it couldn't really be flanked and it managed to block the attacks and absorb the elemental portion of the attacks before kicking Antonella back hard and striking Sophie with both swords.

"I think your submission on its abilities was off." Sophie pointed out, oblivious to Raine's annoyed look at her comment.

"We are Scourge." The three headed skeleton announced. "And it is time to put an end to your pathetic little journey." He combined his sword together and unleashed a powerful blast of energy that was coated in the same color as Scourge's eyes. It stuck the five rangers down hard.

"I think this Kronos guy has upped his game." Evan noted as the Slicer's moved in behind Scourge. "This is not good."

"We have to keep it together." Aaliyah tried to encourage her team. "Let's all try to attack this thing." Reluctantly the five of them tried to attack Scourge together but this time when the demon general attacked it was with the energy of the Slicer's behind it and it sent them reeling backwards, crashing through some of the foliage.

They hit the ground and even worse than the landing was the discouraging feeling as they were forced to power down. "So much for round two." Sophie gasped, trying to catch her breath.

"I think we're about to have bigger problems." Evan noted as the Slicer's started toward them with Scourge coming in from behind them.

"What do we do?" Antonella asked.

"We run, fast!" Aaliyah answered simply as she grabbed Antonella's hand to help her up and started to run in the opposite direction. Evan and the other two girls were right behind them.

"Get them." Scourge commanded. "They will make excellent sacrifices for the upcoming return." The Slicers went running after the five teens.

It seemed like an eternity of running through the forest, not really even sure where they were going but in reality it was only a few minutes of it. The Slicers were silent but they could all feel their ominous presence, the feeling all too recent from the attack on the school that had resulted in their powers in the first place.

The sound of rushing water stopped them cold as they saw a huge churning lake. Raine thought she could make out an island in the center for all the good it did them, she sincerely doubted they could ever reach it even if the water was calm. "We're trapped." She said out loud.

Aaliyah and Evan took a step forward as if somehow they could stop the incoming Slicers themselves though of course in truth they could not. Scourge's three skull heads grinned even more broadly if at all possible as if anticipating their defeat. That look turned to shock when the water level rose even higher and unleashed a tidal wave straight toward the demons. It served as little more than a deterrent but when the water cleared they were alone; the five teenagers were gone.

The last thing Aaliyah remembered was being overwhelmed by water. She had wondered if Raine had somehow done it but elemental control without being morphed had not been something any of them had demonstrated yet.

Now she woke up on something soft. She wasn't quite sure what it was but it beat the hard ground. She saw that Antonella lay beside her, facing her. She was still out of it, at least as far as she could tell. Just behind her was Raine, she seemed to be on her back.

Aaliyah turned her head to see that Evan was on his back beside her and Sophie was on her side facing Evan. Both were still out as well. She seemed to be the first one up. She stretched a bit as she started to stand up. "Wow." She said softly.

She reached over and nudged Evan in the side gently with her right arm as she reached over and shook Antonella's shoulder with her left hand. They both woke up and as Antonella let out a gasp of shock, Evan woke up only to whisper, "Awesome."

Evan in turn woke up Sophie who let out her own gasp of shock as Antonella woke up Raine who took one look and whispered, "Okay now this is fascinating."

In front of them were console that seemed to be growing from trees. In the center of the room was a large globe that was sitting on a stump and being held up by four thick branches around it, almost like a fist. "What do you suppose powers these things?" Antonella asked Raine.

Before the genius blonde could respond they heard a young female voice say, "It's powered by the Earth, the energy of the goddess. Duh." They looked around and could see no one.

"Hello?" Evan called out. "Where are you?"

"I'm here, where else would I be?" The young voice responded and then after a moment added a sheepish, "Ah, I see. Sorry about that." From seemingly nowhere a small girl appeared in front of the consoles. "I haven't mastered my powers yet, I didn't know I had blended into the wood."

"How did you do that? And who are you?" Sophie asked her curiously


End file.
